Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain Thursday reiterated that construction work on the much-vaunted Elevated Expressway from Uttara to Chittagong Road of Jatrabari would begin this month, hopefully to reduce traffic jam in the overcrowded capital city, reports UNB.
“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will inaugurate formally the construction works under the project, the biggest public-private partnership venture in the country, and it will be done during the tenure of the incumbent government,” said the minister. The minister came up with the disclosure while talking to journalists during a visit to the project site of the elevated expressway in Banani-DOHS-Baridhara section in the city.
He told journalists that the length of the elevated expressway would be 26 kilometres from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to Kutubkhali on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway via Mohakhali-Kamalapur-Jatrabari, including two link roads.
Besides, the length of the expressway would be a total of 32 kilometres, including zigzags, he added.
He also informed the journalists that of the two link roads, one would be constructed behind hotel Sonargaon and another from Tejgaon Satrasta to Farmgate.
The minister said estimated cost of the project would be a total of Tk 8,703 crore. The government will bear 27 percent of the cost and investors will bear the rest 73 percent.
He told the journalists that later the elevated expressway would be expanded up to Joydevpur and Narayanganj, as the sprawling city virtually spills over to that extents in the north and the south.
Besides, the elevated expressway would also be linked to Kanchpur Bridge and the would-be Padma Bridge.
The journalists were also told that the construction works of Mayor Hanif Flyover, Mirpur-Airport Road Flyover and Banani Overpass and Kuril Flyover are underway to tackle the nagging traffic jams in the city.
Further rolling out a plethora his ministry’s plans, Abul Hossain said construction work on metro-rail and Bus Rapid Transit would be begun “soon”.
The government has taken initiative making the entry roads to the city four-lane ways.
The minister expressed his hope that the metropolitan city would be “freed from traffic jam” if the projects are finished in time.
On January 19, the government signed agreement with an investment firm, Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, for building the elevated expressway.
Secretary of Bridge Division of the ministry Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, project director of the elevated expressway engineer Abdul Wadud and high-ups of the investment company were also present during the visit.
Courtesy of UNB/The News Today
